Preferred Citation

Biographical Sketch

DeForest Sackett attended Elgin High School and graduated from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He joined the advertising art department of the Chicago Tribune newspaper in 1923. Sackett left the Tribune in 1925 to become art director for the Walgreen Company, then a chain of thirty-three drug stores. From 1925 to 1939, he oversaw the company's development of commercial art, and was a pioneer in the use of color in modern package design. Sackett established his own firm, DeForest Sackett and Associates, in 1939, specializing in packaging, advertising and other forms of commercial design for corporations such as Standard Oil and Container Corp. He helped to found the Society of Typographic Arts (STA) and was active in other professional associations such as the 27 Chicago Designers. Sackett promoted the interests of the design community at large and assisted members of the Bauhaus in fleeing Nazi Germany during the 1930s. DeForest Sackett passed away in Fontana, Wisconsin on November 30, 1993 at the age of eighty-eight.

Scope and Contents

The DeForest Sackett Papers include correspondence, memoranda, reports, bulletins, newsletters, programs, published articles, clippings, notes, sketches, original artwork, maps, greeting cards, design layouts, photographs, brochures, and other published works. Templates, composition books, notes, and report cards from DeForest Sackett's time spent at Elgin High School are also included among these materials. Materials regarding his mentor, Raymond F. DaBoll, the Association for Color Research, and the Society of Typographic Arts have been reorganized into separate series. All materials are arranged by chronological order within their respective series. Some books were transferred from these papers to Rare Books for preservation and storage.

Subject(s)

Collection Inventory

Series I: General

Scope and Content:

Series I includes correspondence, memoranda, reports, bulletins, newsletters, programs, published articles, clippings, notes, sketches, original artwork, maps, greeting cards, design layouts, photographs, brochures, and other published works. Templates, composition books, notes, and report cards from DeForest Sackett's time spent at Elgin High School are also included among these materials.

Series II: Association for Color Research

Scope and Content:

Series II: Association for Color Research includes correspondence, memoranda, bulletins, issues of ACR News, application forms, notes, published articles, reports, pamphlets, and a lecture by Walter C. Granville.

Series IV: Raymond F. DaBoll

Scope and Content:

Series IV: Raymond F. DaBoll consists mostly of material created by or about the Chicago designer including published articles, clippings, correspondence, memoranda, newsletters, programs, postcards, invitations, and an obituary. This series also includes some miscellaneous material about DeForest Sackett such as newspaper clippings with biographical information.